Chapter 1 “Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh!”

The deafening cheers from the stands almost lifted the roof off the circular stadium.

The players looked up, squinting at the giant screen hanging in the sky.

Yuri and Gandalf appeared on the screen, waving and smiling down at the crowd, eliciting even more enthusiastic cheers.

Gandalf smiled and gestured for the audience to calm down.

"Some say we are false,"

Gandalf's voice was loud and clear, his tone containing the unique gentle solemnity of a wise man, "We come from video games.

From the moment we were born, we existed to cater to the whims of the Creator.

Language, ethnicity, culture, country, habits, concepts of good and evil, proudly held honors, tormenting dark memories, longing for loved ones, anger, resentment, regret, joy, admiration...

Everything,

Everything that shapes us, that makes us who we are,

Was designed by the Creator, like a tragicomic drama, with our fates decided as soon as the pen was put to paper.

And the most pathetic thing is, we aren't even the protagonists.

We believe we are making decisions based on our own free will, but they are just arbitrary choices made by higher-dimensional beings within a predetermined framework.

We are angry, we are in pain, some even try to break through the dimensional barriers and rush to the Creator to grab them by the neck and ask,

'Why did you create, tease, and play with us?'

However, just as an omniscient and omnipotent god cannot lift a stone too heavy for themself,

The barrier between dimensions is a thick wall called the rules of the world, insurmountable, impenetrable."

Gandalf paused, looked at the silent audience below, and slowly said, "Some say that freedom of will and thought is true freedom.

If one is deprived of the freedom to think independently, becomes a caged bird, an ant in a box, a puppet made of rotten wood, it is better to die cleanly and neatly, at least to preserve the last shred of dignity.

I cannot judge whether this idea is right or wrong,

But at least at this moment,

We are living for ourselves, fighting for ourselves.

That is enough."

The scene fell silent, and the screen switched to Yuri's face.

The leader from *Red Alert* simply said one sentence to the camera.

"Let the games begin."

This sentence seemed to flip a switch. Most of the racers on the vast track solemnly and silently put on their helmets and got into their vehicles.

A thirty-second countdown appeared on the big screen.

"Haa..."

Li Ang, sitting in the left machine gunner's position on top of the armored vehicle, let out a long breath. The lights swirled brilliantly, and every second the countdown ticked down, a cannon fired on the edge of the circular stadium, causing his heart to tremble.

"..."

The Witch, sitting in the right machine gunner's position, smacked her lips and pulled down her black wizard hat.

She had always hated being led by the nose like a pawn,

But at the same time, she had to admit that she, who had always adhered to the principles of calm rationality, had been infected by the enthusiastic atmosphere of the scene and gradually felt the excitement brought by the surging battle intent.

The Twilight Knight, in full armor, sitting in the driver's seat, silently gripped the steering wheel of the war chariot.

Sunset Melted Gold, sitting in the co-pilot seat, responsible for scouting, observing, and collecting information, licked his chapped lips and quickly flipped through the Death Race guide left by the instructor with his gloved fingers.

A total of one hundred and fifty-six war chariots of various shapes were neatly arranged in a 6x26 formation on the wide track.

All eyes were focused on the countdown on the big screen below the airship.

15, 14, 13...

The war chariot engines started one after another, and billowing smoke spewed out of the exhaust pipes, filling the air with the refreshing smell of engine oil.

9, 8, 7...

The tires slowly turned, desperately rubbing against the rough ground. The cheers rose and fell like a magnificent symphony, gradually raising the pitch.

3, 2, 1, 0!

The moment the countdown reached zero, the blue light barrier in front of the vehicles in the front row suddenly disappeared, and the cheers reached their peak at this moment.

Boom!

The Twilight Knight slammed on the accelerator and followed the mighty flow of vehicles, charging along the track.

Their luck was not bad. They were ranked relatively high in the war chariot formation, and they were in the first or second tier from the start.

[Third Stage Mission Objective: Obtain the top three places in the Death Race Competition]

[Mission Time Limit: None]

[Mission Reward 1: An S-level completion rating will reward a Fine quality random item *1, an A-level completion rating will reward a Rare quality random item *1, and a B-level completion rating will reward a Common quality random item *2]

[Mission Reward 2: 500 experience points * number of war chariots destroyed]

[Mission Reward 3: 500 game coins * number of war chariots destroyed]

[Failure Penalty: Remain in the isolated sandbox world until the top three places in the Death Race Competition are obtained. During this period, the time flow rate of the isolated sandbox will remain the same as the player's real world]

Finally!

The four players were shocked. This mission had finally revealed its true colors and entered the final stage.

The first mission reward could only be said to be mediocre. An S-level completion rating only yielded a Fine-level item *1.

It might be attractive to ordinary players, but for players of their level, it was only passable (except for Sunset Melted Gold, who was recently short of money).

But the second mission reward was terrifying.

Every war chariot destroyed would grant 500 experience points!

Destroying three war chariots would directly fill the Lv15 experience bar.

Destroying ten war chariots could even grant a massive 5,000 experience points!

This did not even include the extra benefits brought by a high completion rating.

It could be said that if executed perfectly, this one mission alone could allow them to advance to Lv19 or even Lv20!

"Calm down, calm down."

Sunset Melted Gold took a deep breath and forced himself to recover from the shock, throwing himself wholeheartedly into the current Death Race.

"Even the highest reward must be enjoyed with life. Destroying war chariots is just a condition for additional rewards, not a condition for completing the mission."

Sunset Melted Gold said to his companions in a low voice, "The ultimate goal is to win in the competition of speed."

"There's no need to emphasize such an obvious thing."

The Witch's voice came from the machine gunner's position. She was equally excited, but more than that, she was concerned and worried, "Higher rewards also mean greater risks.

If the mission fails, we will remain in the isolated sandbox world until we complete the mission objective.

If it were another mission, this might be an unprecedented leveling opportunity—we could stay here, train ourselves, and return to the real world with a full set of divine equipment.

But with the addition of the suffix of the same time flow rate, this becomes an extremely cruel punishment—even if we return to reality, it will already be a year later.

No one can say for sure what the earth will look like then..."

The four players still had things they cared about on Earth. They did not completely abandon their humanity and embrace the so-called "transcendental divinity" like some people on the forum advocated in their "superman theory."

They absolutely could not accept waiting a year to return to reality.

"Then let's do our best to win this race."

Li Ang fastened the cuffs of his white coat in the howling wind and said faintly as he looked ahead, "Victory, then home."